


Sunshine mixed with a little hurricane

by disjointed_scribblings



Series: the whole mix tape [6]
Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Communication, F/M, Fluff, Interfering Siblings, Introspection, Miscommunication, Musical References, Resolved Sexual Tension, Sexy Times, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:35:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28077825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disjointed_scribblings/pseuds/disjointed_scribblings
Summary: Leo Bennet was in the Meryton Cafe, and if this was a setup, Darcy Fitzwilliam was going to murder her best friend.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy
Series: the whole mix tape [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857073
Comments: 11
Kudos: 79





	Sunshine mixed with a little hurricane

Leo Bennet was in the Meryton cafe.

Darcy Fitzwilliam turned on her heel and marched right back out the swinging doors before he could spot her.

It wasn't that she was avoiding Leo; in fact, part of the reason that she'd agreed to stay in Meryton for three whole weeks was to talk to him. But she hadn't expected that conversation to happen right _now_ , and she had certainly planned to be wearing a better outfit.

"Darce, where are you going?"

Darcy turned to stare at her best friend in the entire world and occasional pain in her ass. She knew she shouldn't have just turned around and left like that, but something about Leo tended to short-circuit her decision-making abilities, and she ended up doing all kinds of impulsive, inept, ill-thought-out things around him.

"Is this a setup?" Because if it was, she was going to have to murder her best friend.

Chuck widened his eyes. "What?" he said, unconvincingly. It was, after all, Chuck who had invited her to spend her vacation up in Meryton, Chuck who had asked her to come along to do some fieldwork with him today, Chuck who had suggested having brunch beforehand with his boyfriend--who happened to be Leo Bennet's brother.

"If you were going to do this, you could have at least warned me so I could have, I don't know, put on some undereye concealer or something."

She'd dressed for a day of fieldwork, in leggings and a tank top under a long loose linen shirt to keep the sun and the bugs at bay, hair in a practical ponytail, no makeup. Not an ideal look for speaking to a man she was still at least halfway in love with, even though he’d rejected her.

Chuck coughed. ”I don't know what you're talking about. I told you we were meeting John for brunch. It looks like he decided to bring his brother. I know you two haven't always gotten along, but everything was fine when we saw him a few months ago. Maybe that, ah, big fight you don't want to talk about cleared the air." 

She narrowed her eyes at the tone of the last sentence. Chuck had been trying to fish for more information about her fight with Leo ever since she’d accidentally let it slip that they’d had one. 

"You know how to read between the lines," she said now. "Shirt buttoned or unbuttoned?"

"Unbuttoned," said Chuck immediately. When she looked down at the way the tank top clung to her stomach and grimaced, he sighed. "Darcy, you are wearing very tight clothing and he's a very straight man who looks like he’s just hit his head whenever anyone so much as mentions you."

"I'm sure he doesn't."

"I'm sure he does. Kitty and I made a drinking game out of it to get through Sunday family dinner at Longbourn. John pretended to disapprove, but he did make sure to ask after you within Leo's earshot. Unbuttoned. Trust me.”

Well. She needed about a decade to process how she felt about that.

Chuck laughed and reached for her arm. ”Come on, Darcy Anne. It's just brunch."

Raising an eyebrow, she left the linen shirt unbuttoned and let Chuck lead her back into the cafe.

To keep herself from watching Leo to see if he was watching her, she focused on his brother instead. The smile that broke out across John's face when he spotted Chuck walking toward their booth filled Darcy with an uncomfortable blend of happiness for her friend, and guilt that she'd ever doubted John's feelings. Chuck leaned in for a hello kiss, and Darcy darted a quick glance around the cafe to make sure no one was staring, or glaring. God, she hated small towns. Everyone up in everyone else’s business. She caught some curious glances, but nothing malicious—

And then, turning back to the table, she caught Leo.

It would be a lie to say that she caught his eyes, because his eyes were focused a good distance below hers.

She knew the phrase "undressing someone with one's eyes", but she had never experienced it viscerally until this moment. The way his gaze roved slowly, almost lazily over her body, lingering in certain key areas, the intensity in his expression, almost made her feel like he could see right through her clothes and was making plans for what he saw.

She was hot all over by the time his gaze reached her face, but she focused on keeping her expression as impassive as possible and raised an eyebrow when their eyes met.

"Darcy." His cheeks were pink, but his smile was unrepentant, so he was apparently not going to apologize for staring. A flimsy little bit of hope took root in her stomach.

"Leo."

Chuck cleared his throat loudly, and John said, "Nice to see you again, Darcy," and god, she'd nearly forgotten they were in public. She nodded across at John, happy to have an excuse to look away before she burst into flames, right here in the middle of the Meryton Cafe.

And then, because the two lovebirds had taken the other side of the booth, she slid into the seat next to Leo. Their arms brushed as he shifted to make room for her, and even through the linen of her shirt it felt like an electric shock.

Dear Lord. Was there something wrong with her hormones? Was this some kind of early perimenopause? Because here she was, 34 years old and entirely ready to go after some heated eye contact and a skimming, skittering, accidental touch.

It felt like more than that. Leo was a big man and his presence seemed to stretch beyond his physical person. And besides, he had that very male ability to expand outwards to fill all available space, which widened his sense of presence even more.

Oh god. Something must be seriously wrong with her, because she was finding _manspreading_ unbearably sexy.

Their coffee came, and the way Leo's big hands cradled the mug, the way he used his thumb to wipe away a stray drip, made the pit of Darcy's stomach clench.

"Darcy, you want the special?" someone was asking, and Darcy startled and had to blink before she realized Leo's sister was waiting to take her order.

“Sorry. What's the special this morning?"

Kitty gave her a long, appraising look. "Fried egg, tomato, lettuce, and avocado on a sesame seed bagel. Side of local berries, picked yesterday."

"That sounds excellent, thanks."

"Leo?"

"What? Oh, uh, whatever's good." 

"Mm-hmm."

Without taking her eyes off Leo and Darcy, Kitty held her hand out to Chuck, who sighed and slapped something into it. Beside him, John shook his head--but Darcy thought he might be trying not to laugh.

“What was that?" she asked, sharply, as Kitty headed back towards the kitchen.

"I, uh, I owed Kitty some money."

Remembering what he'd said earlier about a drinking game, Darcy raised her eyebrows. Chuck widened his eyes innocently, making Darcy narrow hers in response. It didn't normally take long to outstare Chuck, and today was no exception. He shrugged and flicked his eyes toward the Bennet brothers, indicating he'd tell her about it later when they were alone, and Darcy had to be satisfied with that.

“I don’t know how you guys do that,” Leo said from next to her. “Have entire conversations with just your faces.”

“Years and years of friendship?” Chuck offered. “Easier than passing notes in class or yelling over loud music at parties.”

Darcy could feel the tremor of Leo’s laugh across the inches separating them, and she couldn’t look at him or she’d risk bursting into flames again.

“You do pretty well yourself communicating through music,” John put in, with something approaching a smirk.

That was another thing. Darcy had been attracted to Leo, physically, more or less from the very beginning. But every time she saw him she seemed to learn some new, fascinating thing about him, like his propensity to burst into song at random intervals, until she wanted to know everything about this man. Spend the rest of her life knowing him, even…

…and she had to cut those thoughts off right there, because after how thoroughly he’d rejected her last time, she didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. They’d probably just be dashed again.

The conversation moved onto safer topics, and she’d gotten herself back on track enough that she could participate despite the major distraction mere inches away from her. It was easier once the food had arrived; it really was very good. She still couldn’t look at Leo too directly while she was talking or she’d lose her train of thought and trail off like an idiot. She did lose her train of thought once, although she hadn’t been speaking so no one noticed, when he reached for the salt and his arm grazed hers. But she was able to recover enough to rejoin the conversation when she heard her name.

“—while Darcy’s in town,” Chuck was saying. “I mean, we did just about everything there is to do around here last summer.”

“We never went out to see the beaver pond,” she reminded him. “Something always seemed to come up.”

John nodded. “Out at Oakham Ridge Park? There’s a pretty good trail around there. Nice day for it too. You should go.”

“Today? But I’m helping Chuck—“

“Oh, don’t worry about me!” Chuck said quickly—a bit too quickly. “A hike around the beaver pond sounds much more interesting than my fieldwork.”

Darcy narrowed her eyes. “You drove me here, so I’m kind of stuck with you.”

“I’d take you out to Oakham Ridge myself,” said John, in a semi-casual way that had Darcy’s suspicions going haywire, “but I have to get back to the farm.”

A long moment during which Darcy tried to decide which of them she needed to murder, and then —

“I can take you. Today, if you want.”

She risked a glance up at Leo, then had to look back into the last few bites of her brunch before her heart pounded itself out of her chest.

“That’s not—“

“Great!” said Chuck. “Perfect!”

“We couldn’t have you come all the way to Meryton and not see the beaver pond at Oakham Ridge,” said Kitty, who had appeared at their table as if by magic and passed John a wireless Interac machine. “That would be a travesty.”

“I survived all last summer,” said Darcy, feeling manipulated.

“Hmm.” Kitty took the machine back from John. “Well, look at that, it’s already almost eleven.”

“Is it? Gee whiz!” Chuck jumped to his feet. “Look at the time. I’ve got to get going.”

_Gee whiz?_ Darcy mouthed, and he shrugged.

“Holy… Mackinaw?” John stood as well. “I need to head back to the farm.”

“Well, Jesus Murphy,” said Kitty smoothly, clearing their plates. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

“What are you, _eighty_?” Leo called at his siblings as they retreated.

And then they were all gone. And Darcy and Leo were alone.

Her heart pounding again, Darcy finished the last sip of her coffee. “Well, looks like you’re my ride.”

God. She’d have to sit next to him, up in that big truck, while his excellent hands were strong and sturdy on the wheel and the gear shift, and somehow keep her cool.

He was looking at her intently, a little furrow in his forehead. “It’s—we don’t have to go to Oakham Ridge if you don’t want. I can drop you off wherever.”

“Do you not want to go?”

She thought he might be blushing, but it was hard to tell when she could only look at his face in brief snatches. “No! I mean, I wouldn’t mind. I have nowhere else particular to be today. I just… they didn’t give you a lot of choice, did they?”

“I would like to go, actually,” she said slowly. “I’ve never actually seen a beaver in real life before.” And she wanted to lay her cards on the table now, because if they kept on going like this for much longer it would probably kill her.

His grin was unexpected, and hit her in the pit of her stomach. “Well, I can’t promise you any beavers. You don’t always see them out and about. But they have their lodge right there in the centre of the pond. And it’s a nice hike.”

“Then by all means, let’s go.”

* * *

A few years ago, the only time Darcy had nearly been convinced to try online dating, Chuck had made her describe her perfect man. She couldn’t remember anymore what she’d described, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t much like Leo Bennet. And yet now, if she were asked the same question, she was pretty sure she’d just have to copy and paste a picture of his face.

That time had been the farthest Darcy had ever gotten in the online dating game; with Chuck’s unhelpful nudges, she’d actually created a profile and spent a couple of hours checking out her options. It had been incredibly unhelpful. Online dating was such a… a _shallow_ way to decide if you wanted to get to know someone further. Darcy had not been tempted to chat with any of the reasonably attractive pictures with associated bland personal characteristics. No one seemed to include any details that mattered.

Leo, for example—she would bet he had an online dating profile somewhere. His profile probably said that he was a farmer—but did it demonstrate how gently he tended the animals in his care? Maybe it said that family was important to him (although, then again, maybe not)—but did it reveal how damn much he cared about them, even when they were ridiculous? His online profile certainly would say something about liking music—but everyone said they liked music, and she’d never met anyone else who approached it the way he did. She doubted he’d write about reading books on nineteenth-century architecture in his spare time. The two-dimensional photographs could never capture his presence, his sheer energy, how he smiled with his entire face and laughed with his entire body and kissed like a drowning man gasped for air.

…Damn it! She’d taken herself on this mental tangent to try to distract herself from his tangible presence just behind her on the trail, and now she was thinking about that fucking kiss again. About the way he’d looked her up and down in the cafe. About his arm brushing against hers.

She was trying not to get her hopes up. So he’d checked her out, so he’d volunteered to take her on this hike, so he’d apparently gone toe-to-toe with her aunt. It meant, probably, that he didn’t hate her. After the disaster of last time—she couldn’t let herself assume that it meant he _liked_ her.

“There it is.” His voice, a bit rough, startled her out of this unproductive train of thought, thank god, and he nodded toward what looked like a pile of logs out in the pond.

“That’s it?”

Leo chuckled and leaned his shoulder against the trunk of a tree. “What were you expecting?”

Aiming for a comparable level of nonchalance, Darcy shrugged. “I thought beavers were supposed to be impressive architects.”

“They are. But the most interesting parts are underwater, or inside the lodge itself. But Chuck would probably know more about that. You’ve really never seen one before?”

“Not that I knew was a beaver dam. Or, lodge? But based on how unremarkable this one looks, it’s entirely possible I have seen one before without being aware of it.”

Leo nodded and glanced back out at the pond. So apparently they were taking a bit a break, then, before continuing down the trail. Darcy leaned gingerly against a tree and tried to enjoy the quiet summer sounds of the pond over the pounding of her own heart.

“So—“ she started to say, at the same time as Leo said, “I heard—“

They both broke off, awkwardly. “Go ahead,” Darcy said.

Leo shot her a long look before turning back toward the pond. “I was just going to thank you. I hear you’re the main reason my baby sister isn’t in prison right now. I don’t know how my family can thank you—repay you—”

Oh.

Disappointment was a fist in Darcy’s stomach. But really, what had she expected he’d say? That he’d fallen madly in love with her, prickly personality and all?

“That was supposed to be a secret,” she managed.

“You trusted Lydia with a secret?” She could hear the humour in his voice, even as her eyes remained firmly fixed on the beaver dam. Lodge. Whatever.

“Secret may be an exaggeration. It seems she’s embellished the story, anyway. I just gave a little helping hand.”

“A little—Darcy, you found her a great lawyer, you paid all her legal bills, and I don’t know what the hell you did to Jordana Wickham to get her to turn herself in—“

More money, mostly. She didn’t say that because then he’d feel guiltier, or more grateful, or some other thing that was not the feeling she’d hoped to have from him. "Well, you know. It was important to me that this time Jordana had to face consequences for her behaviour. And the money wasn’t so significant—"

“Maybe not to you! For my family—well.”

“It’s not—“ Darcy paused to select her words. “It wasn’t as much money as you seem to believe. I’m not _that_ rich. I just—I have money. You know? My parents died young and left me and my sister with a life insurance settlement, the retirement savings they never got to spend, and a house with the mortgage mostly paid off. I’m basically a baby boomer. And since I have money, I think it’s important to help when I can. To give, to share, to be as ethical a consumer as I can be. It’s all on the same spectrum.”

They were silent for a minute. Darcy watched as a group of ducks paddled by on the pond and wished she hadn’t come back to Meryton after all.

“I think I’d believe all that,” Leo said eventually, “if you’d just given Aunt Grace the money for a lawyer. But you tracked down a good one yourself. The deal that Jordana made, it explicitly included information that exonerated Lydia. I know Jordana didn’t do that out of the goodness of her heart. That’s all time and effort as well as money. But you barely know Lydia, and you don’t even like her, and you went to all that trouble for her. For my family—“

“Oh, for god’s sake.” She swivelled to face him, was startled to see that he was already watching her. She forged on regardless. “I know I’ve said some things about your family, but they’re still good people. And when you got the news about Lydia and I saw how upset you were, I couldn’t _not_ —“

She stoppered the flow of words abruptly, conscious of how revealing they were about to be. Leo’s gaze had gone more intense.

“Darcy—“

Shaking her head, she turned back to the pond. “Don’t—don’t be grateful. That’s not what I’m here for. That’s why I didn’t want Lydia to say anything. You don’t owe me anything, you don’t have to repay me anything, and I didn’t want you to feel—after everything, this past year—after—well.” So much for dignity. “I always seem to say more than I mean to when I talk to you.”

“Darcy.” His voice was harsher now, hoarser, and all the fine hairs on her arms were standing up, and she wanted that voice growling in her ear while his big competent hands touched her all over, and that possibility seemed much more distant now than it had twenty minutes ago.“I’m feeling a lot of things right now, but I wouldn’t put gratitude in the top five. Damn it, Darcy! Will you look at me for a second?”

Startled, she did. His face was going red, his eyes blazing.“Leo?”

“Darcy,” he ground out, like her name was painful to say. “I’m trying to ask you if I was such an asshole last November that it totally fucked up any chance I had of ever being with you.”

His words seemed to sink into her consciousness in slow motion, like they were travelling through water instead of air. She recognized them one by one and could almost not believe the interpretation she was making of the whole.

“You weren’t that much of an asshole,” she said, “you haven’t fucked anything up,” and then, “Perhaps you could say a little more plainly what you mean, because I don’t want to misunderstand and go diving into disaster again,” and by this time his lips had started to curve up a bit at the corners.

“I absolutely was that much of an asshole. And there are definitely things I’ve fucked up in my life, and I’ve fucked up with you at least a little bit. I realized almost right away that I’d let my temper get away from me, that you didn’t deserve how badly I behaved that night. And then when I got your note—“

“Oh my god, I don’t even want to remember what was in that note.”

“The point is, I started to see all the ways I was wrong, and in every way, you measured up right. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized… that I want you. I want a chance to be with you. Not just a one-night stand or a fling or whatever you were offering that night. I want, well, everything. I want you for the long-term but I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me. Even if it’s just this summer. Even if it’s just this day.”

Darcy stared for a minute, making sure this was really happening, until Leo closed his eyes and stuttered, "I mean, unless—" and then she said, “Don’t be an idiot,” and launched herself at him.

There was a thud as Leo’s back hit the tree trunk, but Darcy barely registered it. His body was strong and steady against her, his mouth lush and pliant when it met hers, his hands big and solid against her back, holding her in place against him. Darcy kissed him until she felt lightheaded and realized she hadn’t breathed in a while. Pulling back, she could see that he looked just as glazed and almost feverish as she felt. While she took great gasping gulps of air, he distracted her with a kiss on her neck, a tease of her ear.

“Darcy,” he whispered, sending shivers cascading down her back, “I really, really, really like you.”

Feeling charmed and delighted and foolish, she whispered back, “I really, really, really like you too.”

Then his mouth on hers again, more forcefully this time, lips and tongue and a hint of teeth, and his hands were moving up and down her back sending little electrical impulses as they went, and Jesus! Had she ever been so hot? Had she ever been so desperate? Like her need was a tangible thing trying to burst out of her skin and into Leo’s capable hands?

She was so absorbed in him she didn’t hear the crunch of someone else coming up the trail until a voice said, “Leo? Leo Bennet, is that you?”

Oh, god.

There was an undignified moment as they disconnected their mouths, and then Leo cleared his throat. “Uh… Mrs. Lipinski! Hi.”

“Nice to see you, Leo! It’s been a while. Of course I heard about Lydia. How is your family holding up?”

Darcy stared at the red flush on Leo’s neck and tried to decide if she should turn around and introduce herself. It sounded like this woman was in no hurry to get away. But Leo held her firmly in place.

“Oh, you know. All’s well that ends well. You should stop by the cafe sometime. I’m sure Kitty would love to chat.”

“I just might. And—“

“It was great talking to you!” said Leo, more forcefully this time. “Wouldn’t want to keep you from your hike. I think your dog’s getting a bit ahead of you there.”

“Hmm. Well. I hope you enjoy your _hike_ as well, young man.”

This time, Darcy could hear the crunching of gravel as the woman walked down the trail. She could tell when she was safely far from eyesight and earshot because Leo slumped against the tree.

“ _Jesus_. That was my high school English teacher.”

Darcy looked up at his bright red face and choked on a hysterical giggle.

“Don’t laugh,” Leo grumbled. “I don’t know what it is about you that turns me into a teenager again. Thinking about you constantly, popping boners at inappropriate times, and now we get caught making out by a teacher. The only thing we’re missing is dry humping in the back of a truck and then I’ll really feel like I’m 16.”

Good to know she wasn’t the only one spiralling out of control here.

“While that idea isn’t without appeal,” she said, leaning into his _highly_ appropriate boner, “since we are, in fact, adults, I suggest we go to my cabin instead.”

The slow smile spreading across Leo’s face made her feel sparkly inside, like the sunlight dancing on the rippled water of the pond.

“Why, Ms. Fitzwilliam. Are you inviting me to come over and see your etchings? Or perhaps for a nightcap?”

“Oh, was that too subtle?” She gave him the most coquettish look she could manage. “Please come back to my cabin with me so I can tear your clothes off and fuck your brains out.”

His hands tightened on her, as if by reflex, and then he laughed. She could read both delight and desire on his face.

“God, Darcy.”

“Is that a yes?”

He took his hands off her, but she had only a second to mourn their loss before one hand was at the small of her back, pushing her in the direction of the parking lot.

“It’s a ‘if you keep saying things like that we’re not going to make it back to the cabin.’”

The walk back to the parking lot was both too short, with the heat and strength of Leo’s hand on her back, and too long with the anticipation of his hands restless all over her. He opened the passenger side door to his truck for her and helped her up, hand taking a short detour from her back down to her butt in a way that made her rethink the back of the truck idea. But who knew how many old high school teachers he had wandering around? Besides, she wasn’t 16 anymore either. Her back appreciated both a mattress and a box spring for this kind of activity.

Leo’s thumb tapped against the steering wheel as he turned onto the highway and god, she loved his fingers.

“What are you thinking?”

The thumb stopped. “Sorry?”

Of course, she could guess the direction of his thoughts. That hadn’t been specific enough. “I mean—that sounded like a rhythm. Are you going to sing again?”

A choked laugh. “I wasn’t. Did you want me to?” 

_Yes_. “Just curious about what song you’re thinking of.”

“Ah—“ Was he blushing? She couldn’t tell. His face had been flushed for, well, for most of the last half hour.

She hadn’t really expected him to sing, so it was a pleasant surprise when he began, “So urgent, urgent, just wait and see, just how urgent our love can be—”

Darcy couldn’t stop a laugh. “Very fitting.”

“Well, I clearly thought so,” he said, cutting a look over at her before going back to the road. Darcy pressed her thighs together and bit her lip, wondering why everything had to be so spread out in this goddamn tiny town.

“Fuck,” said Leo, sounding strangled. “God. Don’t do that. Please talk about something else for a minute so I don’t literally run us off the road.”

Alarming, but also somewhat flattering.

“What are the chances everyone in town is going to hear about this by nightfall?”

“From Mrs. Lipinski, you mean? She’s not that big of a gossip. It’ll take at least a day for it to get to someone who will spread it everywhere. Think of something more distracting. Now I'm onto: 'Caught up in the moment, and it was wild as hell...'”

“God. Okay.” She paused for a moment, then brought up the thing she’d wanted to talk to him about, the big reason she’d known she needed to come back to Meryton after all. “I heard my aunt called you. I’m sorry about that.”

His face contorted into a grimace. “Oh. Yeah.”

“She doesn’t like you very much.”

“That… might be an understatement. I don’t know what she said—“

“That you were very rude and told her to mind her own business.”

“Well. Fair enough.”

They’d reached the turnoff to the cabin. Leo didn’t flick any more glances her way as he slowed down. Darcy started to wonder if she’d made a mistake, bringing this topic up. But he’d had his say, earlier, and now she wanted to have hers.

“I told my aunt that she was the rude one and she really should mind her own business.”

Leo didn’t say anything, focused on navigating the rutted dirt road. Finally, they pulled up to the cabin Chuck was renting for the summer. Leo turned off the ignition and set the parking brake before he turned to her.

“Darcy. Your aunt said some… kind of offensive shit to me and I lost it on her.”

“I know. She told me. And I—“

“What do you want me to say?”

“Nothing!” How had this conversation gone off the rails so quickly? Maybe they were just doomed to never get past this point. “I’m sorry that she said those things. I’m sorry that she called you at all. I just—that’s why I came. I wanted to know why you talked to her. Why you didn’t just hang up on her, or tell her you had no interest in me so she’d leave you alone. That—what was it—that you wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole. Since you’d already said that to my face, I wouldn’t be surprised if you said it behind my back.”

“Darcy—“He was looking at her now, at least. Shit. Why couldn’t she learn to plan these things better?

“No, I’m trying to explain. Chuck had invited me to come stay for a few weeks, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. Then she called me and I just… I had to know. I had to talk to you.” He was still looking at her, and maybe she hadn’t screwed everything up, because he was almost smiling. She shrugged to try to dispel the weight of the serious moment she’d inadvertently created. “I just wanted to say that before… well, before.”

Leo’s hands came up to frame her face, brush against her cheekbones. “Darcy.” His voice sent shivers down her back. Thank god, she hadn’t fucked it up, not irredeemably. “Are you trying to say that you came here for me?”

“Well, partly. Mostly. The last time I was in town… I wondered if I was imagining things. Or misreading the situation again. But — “

He kissed her, almost tenderly this time, cradling her face in his hands like she was precious.

“For the record.” His voice was barely a whisper, breath dancing over her cheeks. “Before we get to the part where we tear each other’s clothes off, I should probably say that you weren’t misreading the situation.”

“I gathered that.”

His grin spread over his face like a sunrise. “Such a smart ass.”

She raised an eyebrow, but couldn’t stop herself from smiling back. “And you’re a pain in the ass.” He let out a laugh at that, and she could feel its resonance in the hands still on her face. “Come inside with me?”

And instantly his smile shifted from amused to amorous. “I thought you’d never ask.”

It took Darcy three tries to unlock the door of the cabin. This was mostly due to Leo standing right behind her, with his hands on her hips and his lips on her neck, distracting her from the task. He seemed to find it entertaining.

She had her revenge once they were inside with the door safely closed and re-locked to keep out friends and errant siblings. As soon as she’d managed to kick her shoes off she was slamming her mouth against his and reaching under the hem of his t-shirt for the feel of skin. This was what she’d wanted, what she’d craved, the heat, the strength of him. He made a strangled sound against her mouth as her hands stroked up his stomach, his chest, and pulled away for a second to whip the shirt over his head and away.

The thatch of wiry hair on his chest, tapering into a line that pointed suggestively toward the bulging fly of his jeans, deserved a moment of appreciation, and she licked her lips and gave it that before moving in.

“Well, hello,” she said, reaching for him, but he caught her first, pulling the linen shirt off her and dropping it on the floor. Then she was in his embrace, her arms bare against his chest, his back, and the electricity where their skin met was so incandescently intoxicating that she was actually lightheaded when he kissed her again, deep, decadent. She pressed into him like she could never be close enough, like she could burrow underneath his skin and become part of him.

“God, if you knew how much I want you right now,” Leo breathed into her neck, and she laughed giddily out of delight and desire and _him._

Insinuating a hand between their bodies, she reached down to cup his erection through his jeans, smiling triumphantly at the soft groan caught somewhere between his throat and her hair.

“I think I have some idea,” she whispered back, all anticipation and a certain amount of smugness. She liked the weight, the size, of him in her hands. Oh, he’d do, alright. He’d do wonderfully.

His hands, god those beautiful hands, slipped from her back down to cup her ass and pull her more tightly into him, all firm and hot and greedy, and fuck yes she was greedy too, undulating her hips like a wanton woman, fisting her hands in his hair to bring his mouth back to hers for a kiss that was all tongue. Her teeth clacked against his when his hands went lower and one skillful finger stroked her through the layers of panties and leggings and she lost all focus.

“You drive me out of my mind,” she managed to get out, when she had enough concentration to form words into coherent phrases, while Leo kissed and licked and nibbled his way down her throat, her collarbone. “I mean, god. You barely touch me and I can’t even think.”

Leo’s teeth played on the edge of her tank top, at the top of her breasts. “Pretty sure that means I’m going it right,” he responded, voice hoarse and strained and vibrating against her skin, and if she’d been in flames before she was molten now.

She brought her hands back from wherever they’d been—oh, smoothing over the very excellent muscles in his back, the ones she’d have to dedicate a lot more time to, later, when she had the kind of focus they deserved—to cup his jaw, bring his mouth back up to hers. It had been too long already since she’d tasted him. He went readily, hungrily, and his tongue tangled against hers with such enthusiasm that she almost fell a step back—

And tripped over her own shirt, discarded on the floor.

“Shit!” she said, dazed, and pushed Leo towards the back fo the cabin. “That’s it. Bed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Smart man.”

It was really only a few steps from the front door to the bedrooms. The cabin was not a luxurious one. Darcy pushed Leo into the minuscule room she’d claimed for the duration of her stay. Almost the entire space was taken up by a double bed, with her suitcase and a nightstand squeezed into the corner. It sufficed perfectly for their purposes.

Leo backed her up into the bed and slid his hands in under the waistband of her leggings, and she had just enough time to worry that she’d put on practical unsexy panties this morning before he was shoving both leggings and panties off in one smooth motion and she was bare from the waist down before him.

“God,” he mumbled, “ _god_ ,” and they were tumbling onto the bed, mouths fused, his fingers setting off sparks along her sensitive skin.

She landed on top of him, squirming, desperate, and then she felt his hands firmly pulling her up.

“Come here,” he said, and she did, and didn’t fully realize his intent until his hands were holding her thighs open on either side of his head and his hot breath hit her and his tongue was working its way through her folds, and she had to rest her head against the headboard as she gasped for air.

It turned out his talented tongue had more uses than just bickering, or singing, and his hands were strong and sturdy on her thighs, and his enthusiasm was… well, not unexpected. Unprecedented? Unwavering? It wasn't long before she was bucking her hips helplessly against his hands. She could feel her orgasm building, while he was hard as steel and still caged behind a zipper, and that wasn’t very fair, was it?

“Wait,” she gasped, and Leo, of course, stopped immediately.

"What—"

“Just wait a second.”

It took an awkward minute of maneuvering to get her thighs to the opposite sides of his head, but once she was facing the other direction she said, “You may proceed,” with as much dignity as she could muster, and reached for him.

“Darcy, what— _oh_ ,” his interjection fading into something like a moan as she brushed her fingers along his stomach and unbuttoned his jeans.

A careful tug of the zipper, a less careful rustle of fabric, and his cock was out, engorged and glorious, and Darcy felt gleeful and greedy and giddy all in one. She used her hand to stroke once, twice, revelling in the size and the steel of him, before lowering her mouth.

“Holy — Jesus — Fuck,” Leo bit out, when her tongue circled the head of his erection. Darcy couldn’t stop a smile. “Hell. Darcy, you’d better be fucking close because this is not going to last very long if you keep doing that.”

“Oh, I am,” she said, wiggling her ass in his face, and he took the hint and returned his mouth to her with a hot, forceful swipe of his tongue.

His mouth was frenzied, now, his hands flexing frantically, fingers pressing into her skin and letting go so fast that she couldn’t keep track of them. She let out a desperate whimper that might have been embarrassing under other circumstances. But his cock was in her mouth and she could feel his responding shudder all the way through his body. And his tongue was moving again, fierce, unyielding, and the strength of it on her clit sent her over the edge.

She came so hard that her vision actually blurred. She lost track of the rest of the world for a second, and when she came back to it, her forehead was pressed against Leo’s belly button and his magnificent hands were gentling her sensitive flesh. She sighed, satisfied, and his straining erection jumped against his stomach—she’d consider that an invitation. She rolled off him and brought her knees to one side, then reached for his cock.

“You don’t have to—“ Leo started, and then she took him into her mouth again and he said “ _Darcy_ ” and propped himself up on one elbow to watch from a better angle.

This had never been an act she particularly enjoyed. Oh, it could be gratifying with partners who were grateful enough—but overall,she’d considered blow jobs as mostly a necessary chore. But with Leo she was starting to see why people liked it. She could feel him coming apart beneath her, watch intimately as she drove him past the edge of his control. The muscles of his stomach were pulsing, his head was thrown back, veins in his neck throbbing, a deep pink flush rising on his chest. One hand had come down to tangle in her hair—not pulling, but grasping, like he’d try to bring her back if she got too far away. 

And the expression on his face —

“Darcy, I’m going to—“

She might be revising her opinions on blow jobs but not on this final intimacy, not yet. Pulling her head back, she watched the bliss come over his face and used her fist to ease him into and through his orgasm.

The hand that had been in her hair was on the back of her neck now, and when he tugged her upward she went, settling herself against his chest as their harsh breathing echoed through the small space. Her jaw ached, her thighs would be sore tomorrow, her heart was still racing. She felt like she’d run a marathon. She felt like she’d _won_ a marathon.

As sanity slowly settled, the only thing Darcy could think was: holy fuck.

God. The previous most erotic experience of her life felt like playing backgammon, compared to that. She’d never felt so swept away, so elemental, so animal…

No wonder she and Leo had never been able to settle into so anodyne a state as casual acquaintanceship, if they’d had the potential for _that_ all along…

Leo’s hand slipped under her tank top, stroking up and down her back, and she realized belatedly that they hadn’t even made it all the way through the tearing-one another’s-clothes-off portion of events. She was still in her tank top and bra, his jeans and underwear were almost all the way on. But after the intensity they’d just experienced, what more could possibly be left if they did make it all the way to nakedness?

Had the silence gone on for too long, now? She was just wondering if she was going to have to force her rambling thoughts into some kind of coherent sentiment when Leo said, with feeling, “Well. Shit.”

Rearranging herself to look up at his face, she saw the same amazement and bewilderment she was battling herself and snuggled deeper against him. “Indeed.”

The hand caressing her back became a bit heavier, more possessive. “I have to tell you, I’ve pictured this moment a lot of different ways over the past year, but that was definitely not one of them.”

Well, since he’d brought the subject up and piqued her interest… “What did you picture, exactly?”

He laughed, and from her position nestled against him she could feel the reverberations through her entire body. “Since I’m not sixteen anymore, I need a few minutes to work back up to that.”

God, she was in love with him.

“I love your hands,” she said, because they had just admitted today that they didn’t actively hate one another so it was too early by anyone’s standard for the rest.

He cast a baffled glance at the hand that was resting haphazardly on his cum-splattered stomach, and Darcy smiled and arched her back into the hand that was touching her there to get her point across.

A corner of his mouth turned up. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes. It’s incredibly inconvenient. You’re always fidgeting or tapping your fingers or something—“

“Nervous habit.”

“—which draws attention to your hands, which reminds me how much I want them all over me."

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” Feeling suddenly foolish, she sat up and reached across him for the kleenex box in the nightstand so they could tidy themselves up a bit. “I can’t be the first woman to admire your hands. They’re objectively great hands.”

“You expect me to be thinking about other women right now?”

“You must know that’s not what I meant,” she said, turning to give him a baleful glare and catching him smirking at her instead.

“Come back here,” he said, using those objectively great hands to pull her into him. His kiss had more finesse than it had had earlier when they’d been wild with lust, but the taste of herself on his tongue made it somehow raw, erotic.

“I wasn’t expecting a compliment like that,” he whispered, and it took her a second to remember what they’d been talking about. “You’re so beautiful, and classy, and… you. Part of me is still wrapping my head around the idea that you want me at all.”

“I literally propositioned you,” she reminded him. “Months ago.”

“Yeah, but part of me thought it was… I don’t know, a prank or a bluff or a joke or something.”

The colour was rising in his cheeks again. Darcy pushed the sweat-dampened hair off his forehead. “Is that why you kissed me that night? You thought you were calling my bluff?”

“No. I kissed you because I couldn’t _not_. Because I’d been thinking about it for months, even when I tried to stop myself, and you just… you said you wanted me. And then I forgot all the other reasons I shouldn't.”

“Hmm.” The line of his jaw was very interesting. Strong. She tested it, gently, with her teeth, and felt him groan. “You keep referring to these thoughts you’ve had. Anything you’d like to share with the class?”

The next second Darcy found herself on her back, Leo over her.

“As it happens…” he said, and pushed down her tank top.

He drove her wild with his hands and his mouth, seeming to discover every little sensitive spot she had. Darcy lay back and enjoyed it, running her hands over his shoulders, his back, and taking pleasure in the gobsmacked look on his face when he finally managed to get her bra off.

When he eventually brought her back to the edge, when he shucked off his jeans and tossed them to the end of the bed and Darcy got the full frontal view she’d been waiting for, she leaned forward in anticipation and then remember practicality and said, “Oh, shit. Condoms.”

Leo froze. “Oh, fuck. Do you have any?”

She had to laugh. “I didn’t exactly plan for this to happen. Aren’t you supposed to carry some in your wallet or something, in case the need arises unexpectedly?”

“How often do you think the need arises unexpectedly in my life?” he asked, and then when she raised her eyebrows and snickered, “Don’t make that joke right now. If I go into the only pharmacy in town and buy just condoms in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, everyone will definitely know by nightfall.”

“Chuck might have some,” she suggested, but he grimaced.

“I prefer to maintain plausible deniability about my siblings’ sex lives.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Fine. Then go and get my purse and don’t be weird about your masculinity. Better hope _I_ have an emergency condom stashed away. That hasn’t expired.”

“I guess I can’t make a crack about the obviousness of my masculinity when I stopped you from making that one about things _arising unexpectedly_ ,” he called as he left the room and crossed the few steps to the front door. “Oh, there it is. Do you really have emergency condoms?”

“I really hope so.” She arched a brow when he came back into the doorway. “ _I_ prefer to be prepared, in case I want to take advantage of any eventualities that arise.”

He choked on a laugh as she rifled through her purse. Ah—yes—there, behind a couple of band-aids and an emergency tampon, success!

“Aha!” she exclaimed triumphantly, pulling out the single packet and lifting it to the light. “And it’s good!”

“Oh, thank god,” said Leo, setting her purse on the nightstand and diving for her. “Now, where were we?”

It didn’t take long before she was writhing again, rolling her hips against him as he held himself just outside of her entrance.

“What are you waiting for?” she panted.

“I want to see you lose control again. I like you impatient and greedy,” he said smugly, his eyes hot as they roved up and down her body.

This made a corner of the haze lift from Darcy’s lust-fogged brain.

“I’m sorry,” she said, blinking up at him, “are you under the impression that you’re the patient one in this situation?”

“I can be patient!”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“I can—“

“Leo,” she sighed, running her own hand down her throat, across her breasts, over her stomach. His eye followed every movement. “I’m so hot. So wet. I need you to fuck me. Please, Leo, I want to feel your cock inside of—“

“Damn, you play dirty, Darcy,” he groaned, and then in one slow slick slide he was inside her.

She did need this, she thought, as her body adjusted to the size of him, as he pressed his forehead to hers and just breathed. She needed this, she needed him. Had she been empty before? She must have been, because she felt so damn right with him filling her. 

He thrust into her again, and his hairy chest brushed against her sensitive one and they both moaned. Another thrust, and she tightened her muscles around him because it felt amazing and because she knew it would make him swear. Another thrust, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted her hips, because this angle was good, so good. Another thrust, and Leo swore again. Were those her fingernails biting into his shoulders? They must be. Another thrust, and she said, “God yes,” or maybe it was him, and then she couldn’t keep track anymore of where she ended and he began.

* * *

Later—after they’d both been driven well past the edge of their patience—she went out to the little kitchenette to get some lemonade. Leo’s t-shirt had landed, somehow, on top of the mini fridge, so she put that on before walking back into the tiny bedroom.

Leo watched her come in ravenously. How could he want her so much after they’d each already had two quite excellent orgasms? She felt warm with an emotion that was more love than lust. It was still definitely too early for that sentiment to be expressed, so instead as she passed him the lemonade she said, “You’ve got hungry eyes.” When he didn’t respond, she had to sing the song for him. “You know! From _Dirty Dancing_. ‘Hungry eyes, I feel the magic between you and I…”

He set the lemonade down on the nightstand so he could laugh. She did love the way he laughed.

“God, Darcy,” he said, “I think you’ve ruined me for all other women.”

It was too early for the word, but not too early to stake her claim when it was laid out for her. “That’s the general idea.”

He laughed again as she slipped into bed beside him.

“When did you decide that?”

“What?”

“That you wanted to ruin me for all other women.”

Darcy paused with her lips against the glass of lemonade. “What makes you think I don’t do that to all the men I fuck?” Leo pulled her hair and made her giggle. “You really are a teenager today.”

“Just around you,” he said, and pulled her in to cuddle against his chest. “But I really am curious. I was pretty awful to you, and you still wanted to jump my bones—“

“Hmm.”

“—and then I was even more awful to you, and, well. Here we are.”

“You weren’t that awful to me. I mean, before. We argued, but it wasn’t mean. You just think you were awful because you’re a genuinely kind person.”

“…Huh.”

She shifted around so she could look at his face without leaving his arms. “Do you expect me to have a movie moment where the camera angle shifted, the lighting became muted, the orchestral music swelled, and suddenly everything turned romantic? It wasn’t like that. At some point in our acquaintance, you went from being a very attractive but annoying man, to an incredibly attractive man I couldn’t stop thinking about, to… the only man I really noticed. And I was well on the way to the last one before I realized I’d stopped finding you annoying at all.”

“A back-handed Darcy compliment if ever there was one.” But he was smiling, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, which was startlingly sweet. She nuzzled her nose into his neck.

“My turn, then. Why were you, in your words, awful last summer?”

She’d expected a teasing answer, so she was surprised when he said seriously, “I was annoyed that you were so perfect all the time, especially since it felt like you were looking down your nose at me.”

“I’m not perfect.”

“No, you’re not,” he laughed, pulling her hair again. “But you always seem to look perfect. Never a hair out of place. Of course I know better now. And you have these ethics and these principles and really stick to them, which has a way of making the rest of us suckers feel a little guilty.”

“And I wasn’t looking down my nose at you. Although I can see how it may have felt that way.”

He was quiet for a minute, and then he said, “The truth is that I thought you were gorgeous the first time I saw you. And then you said I was… what was it, some unshaven hick with wandering hands.”

“I said that? I don’t remember saying that.” She couldn’t even remember _thinking_ that.

His fingers were stroking through her hair, as if to say that there were no hard feelings anymore. “It was that first night, at the bush party.”

Well, that made a little more sense. “That was a bad night for me. Meeting new people is always stressful, especially when they all know each other already, and—it was the anniversary of my parents’ accident.”

“Darcy.” His hand was soothing in her hair, but now she knew she’d hurt him she had to make him understand.

“Chuck convinced me to come, that it would be a good distraction. But everyone was so young, and the music was terrible, and I felt so out of place. But I still don’t remember—“

“You were talking to Chuck. I don’t think you realized I could hear from where I was standing. You were complaining that he had found the only age-appropriate person at the party to flirt with, and Chuck said, ‘Well, he has a brother.’ And you said, ‘You expect me to go chat up some — “

“Oh!” She could picture the moment now, and sat back so she could raise an eyebrow at Leo. “I remember. I certainly did not know you could hear us, and in fact I’m not sure you did hear us all that well, because what Chuck said was, ‘He has a brother who looks very hot and extremely heterosexual.’”

Leo blushed. “And you—“

“Did not disagree with Chuck’s assessment. I probably should have phrased it differently, and I’m sorry I called you a hick. But you have to admit you were unshaven.”

“You don’t have to say it like it’s a character flaw,” he grumbled.

“And you had wandering hands! You were standing with a woman and you had an arm around her, and every now and again out of the corner of my eye I’d see your hand running up and down her back. It was very distracting.”

“I didn’t—I wasn’t with a woman!” 

“Well, you were certainly standing next to one.”

Leo shook his head. “No, I went with my siblings. Lydia dragged us along. I hadn’t been to a bush party in years. The only—oh.”

“Oh?”

Leo grinned sheepishly. “I was going to say the only woman I noticed was you. Which was true. But the only women I talked to were my sisters. Kitty was on the outs with her boyfriend so she stuck with me when Lydia was off dancing and John was off flirting with Chuck. She was in a bad mood about the boyfriend. It’s very possible I had my arm around her for most of the evening.”

Darcy let that sit a second, and then said, “Well, if I’d known she was your sister, I probably would have been less insulting.”

“And if I hadn’t been checking you out while you said it, I probably wouldn’t have been so offended.”

She was smiling again. Her face was going to hurt if this kept up. “If I say sorry, will your wandering hands wander all over me?”

They lingered in bed until they needed food more than each other, and then they showered and dressed and got back into Leo’s truck. The sight of his hands on the wheel, on the gear shift, still made her a bit weak at the knees, but not unbearably so, not with the slight ache in her muscles a reminder that she’d had those hands against her skin and would again.

Darcy took out her phone as they drove into town, unsurprised to find a lengthy string of texts from Chuck. “Apparently you’re not needed for evening chores,” she told Leo, ignoring all the messages full of sexual innuendo. “Chuck is learning how to milk the cows.”

“He’s been talking about moving here.”

“I know.” Darcy put her phone down and glanced across at Leo. “I, um. My job—“

“You can’t relocate to a small town in the middle of nowhere? I figured.” He smiled in her direction while waiting to turn onto Main Street. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But, uh. It’s… between John and Mary, not to mention Kitty’s boyfriend who’s been working for us for something like six years now and is practically part of the family… let’s just say, the farm is well taken care of, and I’m not as tied to it as John is.”

“What?”

Leo made a face as he pulled in behind the gas station. “It’s a family’s farm. I’ve always worked there because it’s _my_ family's farm. But eventually I realized… I never had to think about what I actually wanted to do. Seeing how much John and Mary love it makes it more obvious that I don’t. And god forbid I have to spend the rest of my life in the same house as my mother. I know it’s way too early for this kind of conversation, but I wanted to put it out there that I’m not… opposed… to leaving Meryton. Okay?”

There it was, that shimmering feeling again. “Okay.”

Leo grinned and opened his door, and Darcy looked around again. “What are we doing?”

“We said we needed food, right? Chip truck.” Leo nodded toward a derelict-looking food truck back behind the parking lot, so rusted she doubted it could actually drive. “This way we can avoid Kitty. She was giving us one of those looks at brunch, so if we show up at the cafe now there will definitely be an inquisition.”

Darcy clambered down and squinted at the grimed-over menu board.

“We could have gone to Tim Horton’s,” she suggested.

“Did you want to go to Tim Horton’s?” Leo asked, skeptical.

Did anyone? “No.”

“Didn’t think so. Come on, we'll be supporting a small local business and the fries really are amazing.”

Well, what the hell. She’d probably burned enough calories this afternoon, right?

They ate their fries drowned in malt vinegar in the bed of Leo’s truck, in some out-of-the-way spot he claimed no one else knew about facing a burbling creek.

“Down by the river,” Leo joked, and then sang the words for good measure.

Darcy looked dubiously down at the running water. “I don’t know that I’d call that a river.”

“It doesn’t have to be literal. This place just always reminds me of that song.”

She turned to look at him, intensely curious now. “Like a theme song? Do you have theme songs for a lot of things?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “Just… some things remind me of a specific song.”

“Rain in November?”

He laughed and looked a bit embarrassed. “You keep coming back to that.”

“It was a pivotal moment. Before that I had no idea that you could sing, let alone how often you do.”

He shrugged a shoulder, definitely blushing now. “Before that, most of the songs that came to mind when I was around you either weren’t flattering to you, or said a bit too much about me. Or both.”

“What’s my theme song now?”

“What makes you think you have one?”

More hoped than thought. “If there wasn’t one, you would have said so.”

He laughed again. “You’re not just a song, you’re the whole mix tape.”

She had to pause before she spoke, because something was melting inside of her. “Well. That’s romantic.”

“It’s true. Although to be fair, I didn’t come up with it—that _is_ from a song.”

“Now you have to sing it for me.”

He grumbled and groused, but in the end, he pulled her into his arms, in the back of his big blue truck, and sang for her.

_I never meant to fall like this_

_But she don't just rain she pours_

_That girl right there's_

_The perfect storm_

**Author's Note:**

> track list...
> 
> Urgent - Foreigner  
> Caught up in the Moment - Big & Rich  
> Hungry Eyes - Eric Carmen  
> Down by the River - Neil Young & Crazy Horse  
> Perfect Storm - Brad Paisley
> 
> Title from Perfect Storm. 
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me through this self-indulgent (and uh, increasingly horny) series! Not gonna lie, this has been getting me through lockdown. I've had some questions about whether I'll go back and revisit earlier parts of the canon and... probably not but who knows. I may go back and do some "missing" scenes. I know I'm not quite ready to leave this world yet, so I'll probably (definitely) be posting some extra little tidbits in the coming weeks so... I guess watch this space if you're interested? <3


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